GM, Ford, FCA expect to resume Mich. production Friday

Consumers Energy CEO Patti Poppe credited Michigan automakers for voluntarily cutting gas use and interrupting production schedules on Thursday. A total of 79 companies reduced their consumption.

DETROIT — General Motors said it expects all 13 of its Michigan manufacturing facilities to return to normal operations after they were idled due to a utility fire that limited availability of natural gas during record cold weather. Fiat Chrysler and Ford also were prepared to resume normal operations on Friday.

GM late Thursday said many of the plants will begin operating at midnight, followed by the remaining facilities throughout Friday. The company reinstated “limited operations” at five of the facilities earlier in the day.

GM also shut down nonmanufacturing operations at its Warren Tech Center, Pontiac propulsion campus and Grand Blanc customer care and aftersales headquarters. Those employees were told to work from home until Monday.

Meanwhile, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles canceled the first two shifts on Thursday at its Warren Truck and Sterling Heights assembly plants near Detroit but said later Thursday it planned to resume full production at the plants with the first shift on Friday.

Ford Motor Co. reduced heating levels at its Livonia Transmission and Van Dyke plants, stopped heat treatment processes at Sterling Axle and shut down the paint process at Michigan Assembly. The paint operations were expected to be reinstated Thursday night.

Michigan is among the Midwestern states that have experienced record cold temperatures this week, shutting numerous schools, businesses and government offices. Temperatures throughout the region remained below zero degrees Fahrenheit for most of Thursday.

At the affected GM manufacturing plants, second-shift workers were sent home Wednesday and third-shift employees, where applicable, were told not to come to work.

The temporary shutdown for supporting facilities affected all GM manufacturing operations in Flint and Pontiac, a transmission plant in Warren and two stamping operations in Lansing as well as other operations in Saginaw and Bay City.

Other GM plantsin Michigan, such as Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly, Romulus Powertrain, Brownstown Battery and Grand Rapids Operations are not affected. They are serviced by a different utility, Carpenter said.

GM facilities

GM said these operations were affected by the curtailments late Wednesday and early Thursday:

It was unclear how many supplier plants also were impacted in the region on Thursday.

The Detroit automakers were among 79 businesses that Consumers Energy asked to cut down on heat while it contained the fire at a natural gas compressor station in Armada Township, Mich., according to a report from Crain's Detroit Business, an affiliate of Automotive News.

Consumers Energy said the fire occurred at 10:33 a.m. on Wednesday and was under investigation. There were no injuries, the company said. The station resumed partial operations by Thursday afternoon.

Consumers Energy, a unit of CMS Energy Corp., had asked the plants and other big gas users to cut back on use out of fear of running out of gas for homes and other critical buildings during the record-setting deep freeze. But CEO Patti Poppe said Thursday afternoon that crews had repaired part of the fire-damaged station and ample gas supplies are now available.

Poppe said Thursday morning during a telephone news conference that she was "cautiously optimistic" that the utility was on track to resume normal service by Friday and that efforts to conserve energy during the last two days have paid off.

Michael Martinez, Vince Bond Jr. and Crain's Detroit Business contributed to this report.

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story reported an incorrect number of GM support facilities being curtailed. Nine support facilities are halting operations on Thursday.